Last week, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) showed a blatant disregard for 1.2 million of his constituents who depend on Social Security when he called the program a “scam” in a viral X post. The outburst drew immediate backlash from seniors’ advocates, Democrats, and local media in his home state of Alabama.
@SenTuberville on X
Tuberville — who insists on being addressed by the moniker of “coach” from his days leading the Auburn University football team — has had an unremarkable tenure in the Senate, known mostly for partisan mud-slinging, hateful rhetoric, and sketchy financial practices. If we were to use coach-speak, a “highlight reel” from his time on Capitol Hill would include:
*Blocking hundreds of military appointments/promotions: Tuberville held up nearly 450 senior military promotions for roughly ten months in protest of a Pentagon policy reimbursing travel for service members seeking abortion‑related care. His blockade left key national‑security positions vacant and drew bipartisan criticism for undermining the armed forces.
*Repeated violations of the STOCK Act: He failed to timely disclose about 132 stock trades between 2021 and 2023, valuing roughly $1–3.5 million, including in companies with business before committees he sits on. Federal regulators fined him over a quarter‑million dollars for repeated violations of the law.
*Racially charged attacks on public officials: He publicly implied that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani bears responsibility for the 9/11 attacks.
Tuberville’s “scam” remark is part of a larger anti-Social Security narrative that the right has deployed for decades and is intensifying now — in hopes of undermining one of America’s most successful social insurance programs.
During a congressional hearing last month, GOP Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) called Social Security a “forced retirement program.” He has also called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme,” placing him in the nefarious company of Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, Elon Musk, and Donald Trump himself (in his 2000 book, The America We Deserve).
The libertarian Cato Institute’s Romina Boccia recently put her own spin on this, labeling Social Security a “legal Ponzi scheme” and arguing that the entire program must be “re-invented.” (We dismantled Boccia’s argument in a book review last year.)
The sharks are circling Social Security because of the projected shortfall in the program’s trust fund in the early 2030’s, which will result in an automatic benefit cut if Congress takes no action. We have repeatedly demanded that Congress take action. As our CEO Max Richtman told CBS News, “My takeaway from all of this is we don’t have much time to spare to address the shortfall.”
That doesn’t mean the program should be cut or radically transformed. We have endorsed legislation introduced by congressional Democrats to bring more revenue into the Social Security system by adjusting the payroll wage cap – so that the wealthy contribute their fair share.
Rep. John Larson (D-CT) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) are two of the Democrats who have introduced legislation to strengthen Social Security without cutting benefits
Unfortunately, the political right proposes to raise the retirement age, institute ‘means testing’ (which is antithetical to the concept of Social Security as an ‘earned benefit’), and gamble workers’ payroll contributions on Wall Street (privatization).
Meanwhile, the Trump administration seems to be abusing and misusing executive power to wreck the Social Security Administration, which delivers benefits to some 70 million Americans.
Just this week, the administration reportedly has closed at least 12 field offices in mostly rural areas – making it harder for seniors, people with disabilities, and families to access benefits in person.
There has been significant public backlash since the Trump regime began decimating the Social Security Administration (including DOGE’s copying and misusing Americans’ personal Social Security data). But the response from the right has been to continue trying to de-legitimize the entire program so that it can be cut and privatized — while Trump continues to sabotage it from within.
The Trump administration reportedly has shuttered at least 12 rural Social Security field offices around the U.S.
Despite Tuberville’s (and others’) rhetoric, Social Security is not a “scam.” It is a social insurance program paid for by workers in exchange for benefits that replace a portion of their income when they most need it — upon retirement, disability, or the death of a family breadwinner. Every year, Social Security keeps tens of millions of our most vulnerable citizens from slipping into poverty.
It is not perfect and has been strengthened over the years (as Congress did in 1983). But Social Security has been working for 90 years and remains overwhelmingly popular with the public. Sorry, Senator Tuberville: If Social Security were a scam, it surely would be the longest-running, most popular, universally beneficial, and victimless ‘scam’ ever.
(For more on actual scams, see: Trump University, Trump Steaks, Trump Sneakers, and TrumpRx.)
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Watch our documentary about Social Security’s 90-year history here.
Listen to our podcast with former Alabama Senator Doug Jones HERE.